Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Update and New Writing

Ugh. I'm still catching up on things -- no time to even look at the ASH abstracts.

A few things to share, though.

1) I'm still in the process of finding a new oncologist. It's been a nightmare. I hope to have everything fixed by tomorrow, with a new oncologist that I'm happy with, and a long story to tell you. I'm going for a sad tale with a happy ending. Wish me luck that it actually turns out that way.

2) I had a piece published in Lymphoma News Today a couple of weeks ago that I haven't shared yet. It's called "I Find Hope in Cancer-Themed Humor." This has always been true for me. I think it's a blessing that I can see the absurdity in life and not be sad about it. And goodness knows there is plenty of absurdity in the life of a cancer patient.

3) I also had a piece published yesterday on Blood-Cancer.com. It's called "Follicular Lymphoma: Strange Guilt." I have long talked about the importance of emotions in our lives as FL patients. For me, one of those emotions has been Guilt. I've learned to deal with it, but it's still kind of there all the time.


I'm hoping life will ease up a bit soon, and I can get back to the blog. Lots of good stuff to write about -- no time to do it.

More soon. Come back.


2 comments:

Vicki L Thomas said...

Glad you're ok and that your lighter than usual number of posts is the result of a busy life! I always enjoy reading your posts.

icrazyhorse said...

Good luck with your new oncologist Bob. It is always a pleasure to read the latest Lymphop Bob post each day.

At the November 10, 2018 LRF Washington DC Lymphoma Workshop one of Dr. Bruce Cheson's slides showed some recent information on FL CAR-T patient results.

Patients (pts) with follicular lymphoma (FL) who have progression of disease within 2 years of immunochemotherapy have poor outcomes and represent a distinct group for whom development of new therapies is warranted (Casulo et al. J Clin Oncol 2015). Autologous T cells genetically modified to express a chimeric antigen receptor consisting of an external anti-CD19 single chain murine antibody domain with CD3ΞΆ and 4-1BB signaling domains (CTL019 cells) can mediate potent anti-tumor effects in pts with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and B cell lymphomas. We evaluated the safety and efficacy of CTL019 cells in pts with relapsed or refractory FL as part of an ongoing phase IIa clinical trial (NCT02030834).

Full article: http://www.bloodjournal.org/content/128/22/1100?sso-checked=true

Note: This report is on Dr. Stephen Schuster’s UPENN CAR-T FL trial. Enrollment started in February 2014; data are reported through 24 July 2016. Earlier this year I read an article by Dr. Schuster that all of his FL CAR-T patients who achieved a CR are still in CR.